Agency reports,
Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Dumebi Kachikwu, has appealed to Nigerians to join him in ascending to the highest position of the country, saying that he cannot effect any change if he is not in Aso Villa.
Kachikwu made the appeal during his FCT town hall meeting in Abuja. The ADC presidential candidate said he needs to be in the “driver’s seat” of the country to effect the change Nigerians truly desire.
He said, “Running for the highest office in the land was not a decision I made on the spur of the moment but one that has been defined by the very essence of my life. It is the only natural progression for someone who has devoted his entire adult life to designing and proposing solutions for the betterment of Nigeria to those who have managed our common welfare.
“I now realise that I must be in the driver’s seat to make the changes needed in Aso Villa. I now understand that merely proposing and complaining are not enough: it is time to sit on this table. It is a table of inequity, injustice, iniquity and intolerance but when you sit at the head of the table you get to decide what the menu is going to be. This is the seat I seek to occupy so that together we can chart a new course for our nation.
“Together we can design a new menu for our people. We will rebuild Nigeria from the ground up and do away with the faulty and archaic colonial foundation that now characterises our current existence.
“We must define our common charter as Nigerians and constitute a new nation that is not only inclusive for all but guarantees equal rights and expressions to all irrespective of tribe, tongue and religion. This new Nigeria must come first before any other identification. It will be our common bond as we do away with all colonial relics of division, mistrust and hatred.”
Kachikwu cautioned Nigerians to do away with sentiments of tribe and ethnicity, explaining that those were not the things that will bring Nigeria out of its current mess but rather a competent individual and government.
According to him, “No longer will we engage based on Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba or North and South but on the basis of Nigeria, our only fatherland. We will resist all those who make religion and tribe their mantra. It will no longer be business as usual. We will zone out all proponents of zoning and usher in a Nigeria that promotes merit, character and know-how above primordial sentiments.
“Every component part of Nigeria is blessed with those who have the talents and abilities to pilot the affairs of Nigeria and we must create the enabling environment for these people to emerge in government and governance. Nigeria will no longer be associated with mediocrity as we will invest in our citizens, our greatest asset.
“The toga of lazy youths won’t stand as we build the greatest workforce on earth. We must build a workforce that knows today and understands the demands and dictates of tomorrow. We can no longer be in conflict with what we don’t know as we make policy somersaults over modern age financial instruments like bitcoins.”
